Recent hikes in the costs of fuel oil and natural gas have many of us
looking to alternative sources for home heating. But what is the
"greenest" alternative? That is a tough question because it depends on
where you live and what fuel is abundant locally. If you live in the
Midwest, corn is more abundant than wood and may have less of an
environmental impact because it doesn't have to be shipped to you.
If you live in the woods, then wood is a logical heat choice for you
and is carbon-neutral, meaning that burning the wood doesn't add any
more carbon to the atmosphere than the tree would have sequestered
during its lifetime. Most people who live in the woods can use windfall
trees and standing deadwood and don't ever have to cut down a living
tree. However, if we all burned wood, it quickly would deforest our
country and add to climate change dramatically.
Biomass heat is gaining in popularity and can be a greener choice in
some cases. Corn pellet stoves and wood pellet stoves look the same and
heat equivalently. Because they are highly efficient, they don't need
chimneys; instead, they can be vented outdoors by 4-inch pipes through
outside walls. You also can tie a corn stove to your thermostat so that
glow plug igniters automatically light it. It has a hopper capacity big
enough to hold several days' worth of corn. Both stoves use blowers to
create vacuums inside the stoves, keeping smoke from seeping into your
home.
What you burn is also crucial. Wood smoke can contain many tars,
creosote and other chemicals that degrade our air quality. Burning wood
as hot as possible helps reduce contaminants in the smoke. Corn burns so
cleanly that you won't see a wisp of smoke from the stovepipe. However,
corn requires many chemical inputs to grow and can be environmentally
devastating.
Wood pellets burn the most cleanly but are not necessarily as
renewable a resource as corn. Look for corn that is grown locally and
has low pesticide and fertilizer use, such as transitional corn, for a
truly environmentally friendly alternative fuel.
There are also multi-fuel stoves, which burn almost anything that
fits in the 2-inch hoppers. This type of stove may be a good choice if
you live in an agricultural area. Farmers are discovering a new use for
waste crops, such as wheat shafts and hulls, cornstalks and moldy hay.
These crop wastes can be pelletized and sold as biomass heat pellets for
multi-fuel stoves. This may be a local source for home heating fuel in
areas where wood is expensive and corn is needed as food.
Many farmers have started growing biomass crops, such as switch
grass, specifically to pelletize and burn them for home heating use. You
can use grass pellets in pellet stoves, as well as in high-efficiency
wood stoves. If you have enough land, you can make grass pellets out of
just about any type of hay or straw. You even can use last year's moldy
hay bales to make next year's pellets. Finding a pelletizer may be the
hardest part of the process. Some farmers in New York pitch in together
and rent one. You could make your own pellets and save substantially on
home heating. This could become a popular home-based business that helps
wean Americans off fossil fuels so that they can enjoy real homeland
security.
Traditional open masonry fireplaces aren't effective or efficient
heating devices. A traditional fireplace draws in as much as 300 cubic
feet per minute of heated room air for combustion and then sends it
straight up the chimney. This is the same as having a 4-foot hole in
your wall that is sucking your precious heat straight outdoors! Only
high-efficiency fireplace inserts have proved to be effective in
increasing the heating efficiency of older fireplaces. The insert
functions like a wood stove, fitting into the masonry fireplace or on
its hearth and using the existing chimney.
Shawn Dell Joyce is an award-winning columnist and founder of the
Wallkill River School in Orange County, N.Y. You can contact her at
Shawn@ShawnDellJoyce.com. To find out more about Shawn Dell Joyce and
read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit
the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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